String for musical instruments



Dec. 26, 1950 J, osm s, JR 2,535,143

STRING FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Filed March 10, 1948 IN V EN TOR.

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PATENT; OFFICE STRING FOR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Jan Kosmis, J r., Amsterdam, Netherlands Application March 10, 1948, Serial No. 14,055 In the Netherlands March 13, 1947 1 Claim. 1

The process of manufacturing strings for musical instruments at present is being carried out as follows:

A core having the length of the string to be made and generally consisting of steel wire, is provided at one of its ends with an attaching loop or button, after which the remaining portion of the core is covered by windings of a pliable metal that generally is of a more precious kind.

With strings of this nature the core therefore will be unprotected on the portion by means of which the string is to be attached to the instrument.

The attaching loop which is to be passed about a hook provided on the instrument, for example, will, when the string is tightened, be sharply bent at the angles of the hook, so that it will be locally under a heavy stress, because of which strings of this kind are liable to break very soon. Another drawback resides in the fact, that the unprotected core is likely to corrode, which will cause breakage and will render the strings unsaleable if still in stock.

According to the present invention the said drawbacks are obviated by the feature that the spiral windings reach to the end of the attaching portion in ouestion, in such a way that the said windings will extend at least over the bent portions of the core and are bent together with the said core.

Because of this, the bent parts of the attaching portion are bound to be less acute. so that the above mentioned drawback of a local overloading of the core that takes up the stress cannot present itself. This measure also serves to prevent corrosion. since the metal of the windings, because of its excellent quality, is much less, or not at all, liable to corrosion.

The principle described above makes it possible to form the attachingends in various efflcacious ways which up to the present, it was not possible to apply.

It is possible. e. g., to tie the attaching end into a knot, ifdesired in the shape of a spiral wound backwards; with the core alone it is impossible to accomplish this, since in the first place the said core is, far too resilient and would straighten out a ain, if not covered by windings, and in the second place there would not remain any portion of the core extending beyond the windings.

Another efflcacious embodiment is the one in which the attaching portion of the string is passed through an opening in a button, a plate,

i or the like, which is adapted to be sealed by compression, while the bent end of the attaching portion is locked in a recess provided inside the said button, knob or plate.

If this should be carried out with the core alone, the said core would be flattened out and/or would straighten out so that the string would be pulled out of the opening in the button or plate.

The present invention, moreover, makes it possible to produce mechanically continuous lengths of string material, thus creating a much faster and cheaper method of working than according to the old system of producing the strings one by one.

One only need to cut from the length of wire thus obtained, pieces having the length required for a string in order to obtain, after the formation of an attaching end according to the above mentioned principle, a string of a far better quality than that of those now being placed upon the market.

In the accompanying drawing three different embodiments of the attaching ends according to the invention, are represented.

Fig. 1 shows an attaching loop I formed according to the invention. The end 2 of the loop is passed around the string 3 and secured to the same.

Fig. 2 shows an attaching knot formed by winding the covered core backwards.

Fig. 3 represents a button or knob 5 provided with a passage 6 for the string which has been bent at l. The button is provided with a recess 8. After the button has been compressed the bent portion 1 will be entirely enclosed and can no longer be pulled out of the button 5.

It will be clear that the invention may be put into practice in various other ways, provided the requirements stated in the following main claim are complied with.

I claim:

A string for a musical instrument comprising, a core generally made of steel wire, and a covering over said core, said covering being formed of pliable metal spirally wound, and an attaching formation at one end of said string, said attaching formation including a portion of said core extended away from the normal continuation thereof in the form of a bend, said spiral covering continuing oversaid bend of said core and covering said core around said bend, and a collapsible element having an opening in one face thereof wherein said string is passed through said opening with said attaching formation re- 3 ceived within the body of said element, whereby on collapse of said element by compression said attaching formation will be enclosed within the body of said element.

JAN KOSMIS, J R.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the 10 file of this patent:

Number UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Gray Apr. 2, 1878 Wells Jan. 17, 1899 Bowe Apr. 8, 1919 Cogozzo July 22, 1919 Olson Sept. 18, 1923 Fisher Sept. 11, 1928 Gray Aug. 4, 1936 Gray Aug. 4, 1936 Kaplan June 18, 1940 

